Two drivers pouring in huge amount of money and perhaps that has cemented their place in the FW34 regardless of what they do all through the season or thats what the reports are saying. But with a car that is actually much faster then what the points show, Are Williams missing something or does the history beckons the Williams Team? With such a long history and heritage, Can the Williams team regain the lost honor?

All through last week, Two drivers made their voices felt in this long summer break, One of them was the Team’s Current Test driver while the other was the man who was ousted from Formula 1 and who ironically was the main driver for this team last year. Both had similar opinions and it was a simple fact that the Williams as of now is faster then what the points show and maybe it was down to luck or something else that is not reflecting the car’s performance.

Do they have a point?

It’s been a long time for Williams to get back to the winning ways, Last season we can simply call it as a disaster with the Team although still managing to innovate with the car but perhaps not enough to force them out of the slump and this forced the Team to go through lots of changes with their Technical staff being shown the door while the new people were gradually making their way in and we can say this Grove based team made more noise off-track then on-track. They know that this year is very crucial as with the number of changes they made, with them even announcing Renault as Engine partner, Its going to be a crucial year for various reasons. Top Brasses at Williams Team must have wondered all through last season as to what they must do to get out to the winning ways and they knew the only way out was the fact that they have to design a car which should offer no reliability issues and should be capable of giving the Top Teams some tough fight. Money was always an issue and the only way to solve that issue was to hire those who bring in quite a lot of money which would also ensure that the development would never be halted at any point of time. May be thats the reason of hiring two pay drivers who in their terms can be called as the hungry young drivers in a diplomatic way.

Not many have such a heritage and a history behind them, Of Course there is that particular team from Italy who is part of the Championship at all times but Williams aren’t far behind. This Team is born out as a result of a hungry man eying more success. The amount of respect that Sir Frank Williams has in and out of the paddock is massive. Largely respected and seriously not many carry the iconic status just for namesake. When we look back at what this Team has done over the countless years of them of competing in Formula 1. They are one of the few to come close to silencing the big giants.

For an Independent Team like Williams, Large amount of support comes from the Engine supplier. And again, they aren’t entirely dependent on them but the Engines are part of the whole package and that determines the characteristics of the car that has to be designed. With the Team competing in the pinnacle of motorsport for more then 30 Years, they have seen only a handful of suppliers who have supported them at various times. Ford has been part of the Team right through the initial years. Although a deal with Honda was signed in the early part of 1983, They used the Honda engine only at the last race of 1983 season and the deal continued until the end of 1987 right at the time when Williams was considered as the one of the formidable opponents with the only regret for them being the lack of drivers championship where they have been close to achieving it only to let it go due to some odd reasons. It was in 1989 that saw the iconic deal between Renault and the Grove based team and it went on until Renault left the sport at the end of 1997 season. The early 2000’s saw the deal between BMW and Williams which were seen as the revival of fortunes for Williams as it proved to be equally as fertile as the Renault era but when BMW decided to end the deal in favor of their own Team, The slump started then even with the Toyota era, it eventually relegated the Williams Team to the mid-field competition. The Team is now hoping to bring back the magic they had generated in 1990’s to help them climb the ladder to the front of the field and they hope Renault can do as much as they did in those times. Although these the major suppliers, From time to time, Williams depended on those Independent suppliers for a Transitional period. The first of them was Judd in 1988 which Williams used in an attempt to secure a better deal with a better supplier for the future. Cosworth was the other which helped Williams Team during various times only for them to never achieve any desirable success. The deal between Cosworth and Williams ends up on a disappointing note.

The Ford Era:

Started off as a customer team to March Engineering in 1977 and with Ford as their Engine Supplier, The Team with a lone driver representing them didn’t achieve many success. Driver Patrick Neve appeared in 11 Grand Prix with a best place finish of 7th at Italy and the Team failed to qualify on three occasions and a retirement at one of the Grand Prix didn’t add any reputation at all. The Following season in 1978 with Patrick Head designing the FW06, Alan Jones was the lone driver and season was seen as more of a build up to bigger things of the future. The FW06 proved to have plenty of reliability issues with as many as 7 retirements to their name. The best point of that season was the second place at USGP apart from a notable performance of Fourth at South Africa and a 5th at France added some build up to this young team who until then were struggling for the word success and this all happened in an era where ground effect was ruling the show and Williams Team only managed to get their Ground Effect Technology to their car only in 1979 for their FW07. Although the early part of that season was dominated by Ligier and Ferrari, Williams emerged as the best of the rest post the seventh round of that season where Clay Regazzoni took the second position at the Belgian Grand Prix. Things turned bright from there on as either of their drivers won the race starting from Great Britan, Germany, Austrian, Dutch and the Canadian Grand Prix. A 1-2 finish at Germany and a 1-3 finish at the Canadian Grand Prix were obvious highlights of that season that saw this young team under Frank Williams emerge from a backmarker to a dominant force at the front. At the end of that season, Alan Jones finished third with 40 points while his teammate Clay Regazzoni finished at fifth. The most important thing being that of Williams finishing as a runner up in the Constructors standings, 38 points behind Ferrari. Just a modified version of FW07 which steered the way in the latter part of 1979 season was used for the early part of 1980. Carlos Reutemann partnered Alan Jones and the Team showed mixed fortunes in the early rounds with few wins and few retirements between the drivers, Things improved greatly from Round 6 when Carlos Reutemann won the wet Monaco Grand Prix and when a heavily modified version of FW07 also dubbed as FW07-B were put to the litmus test, It proved to be a dream run for the Williams Team who won the Constructors Championship that year while their driver Alan Jones won the drivers championship with his teammate Reutemann finishing in third. 1981 saw their successful FW07 chassis further modified for that year and FW07-C and Reutemann narrowly missed by a point to Nelson Piquet in the Drivers Championship but with four wins and consistent podiums and points at all times, Williams retained the Constructors Championship. The iconic 1982 season saw Alan Jones temporarily retiring from the Top level of Motorsport and Keke Rosberg taking his place while Reutemann drove initial two rounds only to have a feud with Frank Williams which ended his racing career. Mario Andretti and Derek Daly shared the cockpit for the remaining rounds. The season always remembered for Keke Rosberg’s Drivers championship which came in with just a single victory to his name something that was earlier achieved with John Surtees in 1965 season and was never repeated after that. 1982 was a season full of politics which ranged from Super Licences and underweight cars and that saw FIA putting down on some harsh rules including that of a rule of weighing in the car after the Grand Prix and fining those drivers that protested and also suspending them for 6 months. The compromise formula for a problem of underweight cars{Mainly who used a DFV engine} took several months to reach a conclusion. 1983 was more of a transitional period for Williams Team who was waiting to use the Turbo Charged Honda Engine, The deal which came in so late resulted in them using Ford Cosworth for almost the entire season before the upgraded chassis capable of using the Turbo Charged Honda Engine was used at the last Grand Prix at South Africa and Keke Rosberg showed its potential almost immediately.

The Ford Era was an important one to the Williams Team, Although at the later part of their stint they proved to be no match for the V6 Turbocharged Engines, The FW07 which was designed by Partick Head and Neil Oatley used the Ground Effect to the maximum which was first introduced by Colin Chapman. Ironically Lotus 79 and FW07 were tested at the same wind tunnel although there was no rebadging involved many felt otherwise. Thanks to DFV powered engine, The Chassis proved to be much lighter then the counterparts. Alan Jones who striked a long partnership with Williams Team have to temporarily retire from the sport and part of his decision was down to FW07-C which he called it a unpleasant experience as its characterstics were not suited to his driving style. FW07-D was again a evolution of FW07-C but it had a unique characteristics of 6 wheels that was never allowed to race due to the obvious reasons of more work during the pitstop and would also result in more expenses. FIA however issued the statement regarding the same later on . FW07 at the end of its three year stint with few modifications to suit that year’s regulations proved to be a great car as it steered its way to 15 wins and One drivers and one Constructors championship. They Followed it up with FW08 which was a heavy evolution FW 07 and that was the last car with a DFV Engine to win a Grand Prix until 1989.

The Honda Era

It was inevitable and the change to a Turbocharged Engine had to happen at some point of time. FW07 and FW08 were more powerful but it was impossible for them to compete with a heavy Turbocharged engines which were more powerful. It took the Williams Team almost a season for them to race with the Honda Engine as the car had to be redesigned from the Engine Cover to the front of the car for cleaner Aerodynamics. And during the last race of 1983 season when Keke Rosberg steered the way to strong fifth, It was proving to be of strong potential both the car and the engine and the design work that involved.

But the 1984 season saw the Team suffer heavily despite the fact that Rosberg won the Dallas Grand Prix apart from finishing on the podium at Brazil. They were the only notable results and both Rosberg and his teammate Jacques Laffite finished only 5 times each throughout the season as the FW09 had suffered various problems including the heavy drag at high speeds along with reliability issues that hampered the run but most importantly it is widely reported that the car couldn’t handle the Turbocharged engine which was a big shift for this independent team who had designed lighter cars until then. The FW09 was dropped altogether for the following season and the Team were under severe pressure for the sudden loss of performance.

Nigel Mansell started a 4 year partnership starting from the 1985 season that saw the Team use the Carbon Fibre for their FW10. The Team knew that they needed a stronger and stiffer chassis and thus they moved to Carbon Fibre from Aluminum Honeycomb which they used for the Monocoque in the early years. The Stronger Chassis is the result of Honda Powered Turbocharged engines which the FW09 couldn’t cope up with. The Williams Team also understood that the engines were so powerful although there were few reliability concerns, it proved to be major asset as compared to their Ford era where they were largely let down in the latter part of their partnership. 1985 also proved to be the come back year as both the Mansell and Rosberg clinched two victories each but the Team proved to strong in the later part of the season when Honda updated their engine further. In all the 1985 season saw Williams finishing thrid in the championship equalling the points scored by Lotus and 11 points behind Ferrari and 19 points behind title winners McLaren. Rosberg finished third in the drivers championship as well. The following season saw the debut of FW11 which improved further on the late success of FW10, Much has been done to use the full potential of Honda engine which was proving to be the most successful engine of that era and all that the team had to do was build a chassis with cleaner aerodynamics and rope in the best drivers to steer the car. Williams striked the deal with Nelson Piquet and it was noted down that at the time of announcing Piquet, Frank Williams said that Piquet is the best driver in the world. The Team won the Constructors Championship, However there have been too much controversy for the drivers championship around the Williams Garage. Honda who were the prime sponsors of Piquet were disappointed with the Williams management who didn’t honour the contract which stated that Piquet would enjoy the No.1 driver status in the team as in number of occasions it was Mansell who took advantage of Piquet and took away his position rather then aid him for the drivers championship. In the final race of that season, Mansell needed to finish in third position to win the drivers championship but with his tyres exploding with 19 laps to go, Piquet took over the lead from Rosberg was called in for a precautionary stop and the order of the day was such that Piquet had to win the race to win the championship but Prost who was the other contender took the lead and won the race from Piquet who with a late charge manage to close the gap only to 4.5 seconds. It was race where either of the Williams drivers could have won the championship but they couldn’t. Part of the fight must have arose when Frank Williams who suffered a major accident earlier couldn't come to any of the races and that year forced Patrick Head to take charge of this team, Many wondered if Frank Williams could have saved the situation that left Piquet and Honda furious at what has transpired over the season. According to the Honda Team, Williams Management made similar mistakes in 1987 season although Piquet was given the preference for the Reactive suspension system{which took on the Active Suspension system developed by Lotus, Although both were same, It was told that Lotus had trademarked the word Active which made Williams Team to use the word Reactive}, The preference was given only because Mansell showed no faith in the new part. Piquet showed the dominance of the system at various races and constantly took on the rivals. It was also reported that there was so much of hunger in Piquet that despite a major crash at Tamburello where he was advised to take rest due to severe concussion, Piquet was eager to show his dominance and win the drivers championship. Although the tests of the new component proved to be much successful it was only used in Italy for the first time where at the speed trap, it showed that Piquet was faster by 5mph over Senna and his own teammate who was still on conventional suspension system. It was only a couple of races after at Spain where Mansell could use the system and despite all this, Williams managed to win both the championship with around 61 points ahead of McLaren. In the battle of the Teammates who were fighting it all out for the drivers championship, The gap of 15 points only remained this after Piquet missed San Marino.

Although the Honda era proved to be a dominant era for Williams Team, Controversies with the Team management forced Honda to walk out of their contract despite with a year left in it, They moved to Lotus and also taking away Piquet who was equally disappointed with the Williams Team not honoring their contract. Another major controversy was that due to the issues with Mansell in the 1986 season, Honda wanted to drop Mansell in favor of a young rookie from Japan named Satoru Nakajima. But Frank Williams paid no heed to the requests and chose to stick with Mansell for 1988 season since there was a contract in place for Mansell until the end of 1988. Despite all this FW10 and FW11 proved to be a major choice for Williams who showed the world that they can find a way to build a stiffer chassis that can be light as well. A huge jump to the turbo era although hampered their progress slightly, Patrick Head showed his mettle along with fellow designers who built a chassis with clean lines and proved that with aerodynamics as well a strong engine, One can have a championship winning car.

One Year With Judd:

Judd, an entity formed by John Judd and Jack Brabham were one of the first firms to get an authorization from Cosworth to maintain their DFV engines. Unable to find a suitable replacement for Honda, Williams decided to see off their 1988 season with Judd. The early reports from Mansell and his teammate for that season Riccardo Patrese indicated that the car was slow on the straights. This was largely expected because Williams one of the few Teams not to use the Turbocharged Engines and thats where the difference was largely. To compensate that, Williams further developed their reactive suspension. But unfortunately for them the amount of resources that they spent on their reactive suspension went in vain largely because the suspension became unpredictable after each and every lap. It was told that modifications done to their advanced component during the off season meant that the entire functioning of it changed dramatically and one of the major complications was such that the air which was entering into the car had also messed the hydraulics and this was one of the reasons that the suspension system varied each and every lap. The FW12 proved to be a big headache for the team as the car struggled to be in the points and due to the bad performances around mid season. The Team decided to switch to the conventional setup overnight at the British Grand Prix and Mansell and his teammate were delighted with the switch that showed in the results immediately with Mansell fighting for a hard earned second place. Patrese finished the season with just eight finishes of the 16 race calendar with a best being the 4th at the final race at Australia. Mansell however had a even bad luck with just 2 finishes out of the 14 races he contested with both results being the second place at Great Britain and Spain. Mansell suffered with chickenpox around half way mark during the season and was replaced by Martin Brundle at Belgium and Jean-Louis Schlesser at Italy. Arguably one of the worst season for Williams in terms of reliability and much of their work on reactive suspension proved to be a costly affair. But much of their problems was down to the engine and the faulty advanced component they have working in.

The Renault Era

Renault agreed to supply engines to the Williams Team starting from 1989. This marked the comeback of Renault after they briefly left the sport. Williams decided to use the modified version of FW12 codenamed FW12-C for the 1989 season. With Mansell leaving for Ferrari, Thierry Boutsen replaced him. The first race of the season saw Patrese qualifying second and leading the race but with an Alternator problem, He was forced to retire from the race. Bousten further showed the potential of FW12-C at the second race where he missed the podium. However, the team’s fortune gradually improved with Patrese showing signs of improvement at the Round 4 Mexican Grand Prix where he finished second, He followed that up with another second in USA Grand Prix and another second at Canadian Grand Prix where for the first time in two years, Williams finished the race 1-2. Towards the later part of the season, But unfortunately in the next few races, FW12-C couldn’t match up to its rivals and a new chassis was introduced FW13 which was designed by Enrique Scalabroni and they used the final three races of that season for a virtual shakedown to see how the chassis performs. Fortunately for them though, FW13 was good enough to lift the team ahead of the red giants from Italy and in the end finished the season in a strong second marking their comeback.

The year 1990 saw the revised FW13-B making its debut with upgraded sidepods and also with an updated engine from Renault. There was really no major problems with the car as it proved to be fast and very reliable. Thierry Boutsen and Riccardo Patrese had a win each and finished fifth and sixth in the Drivers Championship. The Team fell from Second to fourth in the championship. Ironically the team wondered what they have done wrong all through the season as their intentions has been to win either of the championship and they had a good car to support their aim.

Perhaps the most feared car of that era debuted in 1991 under the leadership of Patrick Head and Adrian Newey who was the chief designer for March earlier. Newey has indicated that the move to Williams will show his real ability as the funding starved March offered him no freedom. Newey joined the Williams team around mid season of the previous year, thereby starting his work on FW14 early. With much bigger budgets then what he used to work with, Newey showed his magic touch with the FW14 was the most feared car but their only problem was the reliability and all the early reports of FW14 actually tempted Mansell to put his retirement on hold as he made a comeback to Williams replacing Boutsen. But the early races of that season was most frustrating with the car and the drivers showing potential but clearly finishing a race itself proved to be a major task. As in the first 4 races of that season both retired three times while also finishing a race at second. As the season progressed, Mansell showed his caliber by winning 5 races and finishing in second for 4 times. His Teammate Patrese contributed to the team’s cause as he clinched two victories and also had 6 podiums to his name while also retiring a couple of times from the race while leading. Second is where they could finish in the constructors standings as well as drivers standings with Mansell while Patrese finished third and the Team missed out on the constructors championship by 14 points. This followed up by the iconic 1992 season where the FW14 was updated with several components including Traction control, semi-automatic gearbox and also brought back their active suspension. Mansell virtually swept the year with 9 wins while in much of those races Patrese finished second. It was clear that this was best car and they bagged the constructors championship which they were eyeing for the last couple of years. Much has been still talked about this car with many calling it as the most advanced car as it lots of gadgets were involved which were so unique those times.

However at the end of the season, Lots of controversy broke down. Both the drivers had some sorts of problems with the management. Patrese left the team at the end of that iconic season as many reported that he wasn’t comfortable with how he was treated. There were lots of stories floating around that Patrese wanted a passive suspension all through the year as he preferred that. Not many can confirm or deny these stories. While Mansell left the team because of the signing of Prost and that was one famous controversy which is still remembered even now.

The last season of the driver aids meant that Williams were hastily looking to build on the amazing momentum they had in the previous year. The rule changes meant that the FW15 which was actually scheduled to hit in latter stages of 1992 was pushed back and was to accommodate all the rule changes while also being the first ‘Active’ car. It has to be noted that FW14 was born out as just a passive car while all the advanced components were added, it meant that the car had more weight although it didn’t hamper the team’s form. FW15 took down all the negatives and was meant to be a light car while also utilising the advanced components to its maximum. FW15 had two variations to suit both the new drivers who had massive height difference. FW15 also marked the first proper car under Adrian Newey and the result was much clearer aerodynamic lines. Williams again swept both the titles as Prost finished on the top step of the podium 7 times while finishing in second three times. Damon Hill who was initially a test driver for the team in the earlier years contributed with three wins. It was Senna who narrowly clinched the second place in the drivers championship with just a 4 point lead at the end of the season from Hill. The season further marked the dominance of Williams as a strong team with a much advanced car compared to their rivals and this showed in the constructors championship where the Team finished with double the points as to their nearest rivals. Although the car was much advanced, their drivers had a sharp opinion on it calling it inconsistent at times and also there wasn’t any high speed stability at the rear. The performance of FW14 and FW15 in the rear was also criticized sometimes but much of it was down to the combination of advanced components which weren’t suited to the wet conditions.

Fatal 1994 season saw Senna coming in replacing Prost who refused to partner his greatest rival. FW16 debuted with lots of hitches. Along with their drivers including Senna who issued diplomatic statements saying that the car was tough to drive. Many others including their rivals supported his statements. Much of it was the rear end stability. 1994 saw the driver aids being banned altogether and with FW16 only being an evolution of the previous car, It was evident that the car was built around Active suspension while Passive Suspension was being used. Hill started off with a strong podium and he went on to finish the season with 6 wins and 4 second place finishes. There was much controversy when Schumacher in the final round crashed hitting Hill along the way, Many called it racing incident while some called it as a deliberate incident. Mansell returned to Williams for the final 4 rounds of the season with the situation going so out of reach for FIA as they needed a champion driver who drive the viewership which went down after the third round of the season. At the end of the season Williams won the championship while Hill lost by a point to Schumacher. And yes, This is same season that saw Senna’s fatal crash. There has been much said about this crash and much of the controversy carried on until the end of 2004. All we can say is it’s one of the most unfortunate incidents that ever happened.

FW17 debuted for the 1995 season with the first car from the Williams stable to feature a raised nose, Its main features were its peak performances in one lap trim and qualifying is where both Hill and David Coulthard showed their strength but in the race conditions, Schumacher’s 9 win tally showed how Benetton had a solid car. The Williams basically struggled in the race conditions and Hill’s tally of four wins including one of most dominant victories of F1 at Australian GP was few highlights for the team. Benetton won the championship and ended Williams three year title reign. However things turned into the better side with Williams bouncing back with their FW18 which saw Newey design the car with a lot more detailed Aerodynamics. The car’s performance greatly improved which resulted in a strong performance from Hill who took away 8 wins and was also assisted largely by his teammate Jacques Villeneuve and this ensured Hill of the drivers championship while Williams won the drivers championship.

1997 marked the last of Renault-Newey era, Hill was replaced after the Williams management decided not to extend the contract despite him winning the championship in 1996. Heinz-Harald Frentzen was picked as a replacement. This season also saw the team taking their 100th victory. The drivers championship was however decided only in the final race of the season where Schumacher lead Villeneuve by a point. However at a certain point in the race both the championship contenders collided, It was ruled that Schumacher could have prevented the accident and thus he was stripped off his second place but kept the points he scored. Thus Villeneuve won the title by a mere 5 points and most importantly Williams again won the title.

Mecachrome and Supertech: Desperate for old times

Post the Newey and Renault era, Williams seeked some success, They know its hard to regain what was lost. In a desperate move they found themselves wanting for old patterns. They signed on with Mecachrome engines who basically supplied redesigned Renault engines. FW20 also showed striking resemblance to the FW19 with just minor modifications to adapt to that year’s regulations. The team had three podiums and managed to barely finish in third in the constructors championship.

With both the drivers frustrated for various reasons with Villeneuve disappointed with the Team’s poor form and with Frentzen disappointed with no driver preference, Both of them left leaving Williams with a different driver line up. Gavin Fisher and Geoff Wills were the Chief Designer and Chief Aerodynamicist, A continuity of the previous season and once again Williams chose to run a customer Renault Engine. Alex Zandari made his comeback into Formula 1 but struggled for grip and was unable to adjust quickly to the F1 regulations after having spent 3 years in CART. Ralf Schumacher however enjoyed some sort of success with this updated FW21 and managed three podiums but the Team dropped further in the standings to fifth.

The Long Term Partnership with BMW: Return of Stability

BMW entered a strategic partnership with Williams for 6 years starting from 2000. The FW22 was the result of the same group of technical committee that designed FW21. Jenson Button was roped in to fill in Zandari’s spot. The car showed great deal of potential with Schumacher managing to take three podium finishes and Button managed to take 4 5th place finishes that put the Williams team in third place in the championship behind the Ferrari and Mclaren who started to show their dominance over the rest of the field. It also has to be noted that 2000 was year BMW made a comeback in F1 after over 12 years. Also that they spent 18 months to develop the engine which was supplied to this team and there were indications that this is a start of another good era for the Williams team.

Juan Pablo Montoya makes his debut with the Williams team replacing Button and was actually the first choice for the previous year. FW23 was born to show some stability as the team desperately needed a win this time around and indeed Ralf Schumacher rose to the challenge with three wins at Imola, Canada and Germany. The win at Imola marked the first for Williams after 3 years drought. Montoya too chipped in with a win at Italy. Basically FW23 was a car that performed well in low downforce trims but struggled at high performance circuits. Reliability was a main concern with BMW engine which being in second year of Formula 1 had a low finishing rate significantly hurting Williams chances. Montoya in particular finished in 6 of the 17 races which included a win.

2002 saw the team use FW24 which was based on previous years car. This time they took the battle with Mclaren for the second place in the championship while the engine was a major concern for Williams, McLaren had an unreliable car. Meanwhile Schumacher managed the only win at Malaysia while Montoya impressed with his qualifying form all through the season. Nevertheless despite a good car, Williams were found wanting for more performance and reliability with BMW engine which seem to be a concern. FW25 marked the complete evolution of its predecessor with Antonia Terzi replacing Geoff Wills as the Chief Aerodynamicist. The car proved to be a major overhaul and performance of BMW also majorly improved although there was a concern among Montoya and Schumacher that FW25 has an understeer issue something that was not rectified until Round 8 Canada that saw both the Williams on podium and it was largely thanks to the improvement made by Michelin on its front tyres. A huge improvement was seen in following races and Montoya remained in contention for the title but he had to end with thrid place in the Drivers championship as he was unable to grab a victory in the closing part of the season that eventually decided the outcome. A couple of retirements also went against Montoya including the hydraulics problem in the final race of the season where he was leading the race. These put off a better result for the team as well along with the fact that Ralf Schumacher was struggling in most part of that season. Williams again finished second in the constructors championship

FW26 marked the last time there was a continuity to the team, Both the drivers decided to seek fortunes with other teams, Patrick Head who was chief Technical director for a long time since the early 1990’s before actually being a chief designer decided to play a different role post 2004. The FW26 featured a Walrus nose as they call it and it grabbed people's attention and whether they hate it or like it, for sure people did notice it. However the team suffered a contrasting fortune as compared to their pre season form where it was certain that the team is going for both the titles after missing it in 2003. But the car proved to be inconsistent and was difficult to handle as per the drivers. With Schumacher being ruled out with a accident during in season testing, His replacements weren’t able to put up a solid position and Montoya couldn’t carry the extra burden. While the time Schumacher came back, they opted for a conventional design and this lifted their performance but it was too little, too late and the Williams slipped to 4th in the constructors standings.

With Patrick Head moving to a bigger role, Sam Michael stepped in as a Chief Technical director with Loïc Bigois being named as the chief designer. The car codenamed FW27 couldn’t fight for a win but proved to be a consistent with its performance, This was down its nearest rivals taking a huge step. Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber were the replacements for Schumacher and Montoya and both managed to do just enough in grabbing handful of podiums. The Team finished further a step lower then previous year and 5th was clearly not where they intend to be. BMW decided to take over a team and this meant they weren’t keen on supplying engines to Williams. Williams also had to gamble with Bridgestone tyres and thus a new era was about to start marking the end of another strong alliance.

Cosworth: Not that One Year Wonder!

On August 15, 2005, It was announced that Cosworth would be supplying the entire drivetrain package to Williams Team. Plenty wondered whether this move would be fruitful to Williams Team, But Frank Williams insisted that both the associated parties have something to prove and that’s a good motivation to start the new season. There was also plenty of news bits going on for the second seat, it was said that Nick Heidfeld had an option on his contract but he choose to cancel it in favor of staying with BMW. There were also reports that a contract with Button was signed but Button wanted to stay with BAR as Honda purchased that team. In the end it was Nico Rosberg who was picked for the second seat.

FW28 was designed under Chief Technical director Sam Michael and Jörg Zander who was the Chief Designer, The car straight away showed potential but in the end their progress of any sorts was hampered by Reliability issues both with the car and with the Engine. Webber managed to finish 7 of the 18 races while Rosberg finished 8 of the 18 races. There were several instances where FW28 proved to be a podium contender and without these reliability issues, they could have finished higher then the 8th position that they achieved at the end of the season. Issues with handling was also reported by their drivers. This is the first time after many years that the car itself was reported by a big let down.

Toyota, Return of the Japanese!

During the last run with a Japanese Manufacturer who supplied them with the best engine of its era, Williams had a solid run as that was the time they established themselves as a frontrunner. With Cosworth contributing to handling issues of the FW28 car, Lots of changes were done out of desperation for Williams team who were keen to sort out the niggles. FW29 had undergone several changes including to that of exhaust to aid the Engines in a better way while Sidepods had an undercut and there were several methods incorporated into the car for better cooling. Alexander Wurz who was previously a test driver with the team was promoted to the main driver slot to partner Rosberg while while Kazuki Nakajima stepped in as a test driver. Reliability improved greatly as the both the drivers suffered only 7 retirements together. Unfortunately for them, their rivals had improved massively with the team managed to finish only 4th in the constructors championship{It would have been 5th had McLaren were not disqualified after that infamous spy-gate scandal}. Wurz announced midway through the season that he will retire at the end of that year and in order to test the potential of Nakajima, Williams management decided to run Nakajima for Wurz at the final race.

It was largely expected that Toyota will have larger influence in the Williams team and Nakajima’s promotion for the race seat was fairly speculated cause of the same reason. There were few other contenders who were tipped to replace Wurz including the second test driver Narain Karthikeyan as Frank Williams was said to have high regards of the Fastest Indian.

In order to improve the performance of the 2007 car, it was decided that Williams would do an evolution of the FW29 in terms of optimizing the overall package. Weight distribution was a major concern for them and they solved out further niggles on their previous car. FW30 also featured a front wing which largely resembled to the ones used by McLaren’s. The Williams team used a three element design to their front wing and further updates were done to that particular wing on 4 occasions through that season. Furthermore, they tried the shark fin engine cover which was largely popular during that season as introduced by Red Bull and Renault. 2008 season also marked their 30 Year presence in F1 and they had a great start to the season with Rosberg’s strong third at Australia. However both Nakajima and Rosberg managed to finish in points only 5 times each. Rosberg’s best finish was the second place at Singapore where he finished just behind Alonso while beating then title contender Hamilton. 8th in the World Championship is all they could do and they were 30 points behind their engine supplier Toyota who finished in fifth. Williams were 146 points behind the Constructors Champions Ferrari.

2009 was seen as one of the biggest years for these constructors due to the massive rule changes and it was at this time when few teams decided to utilize the loophole in the regulations to its maximum effect. Williams along with Toyota and Brawn were accused of their cars being illegal but after FIA examined these cars, it was announced that they were legal. Same driver lineup continued from the previous season and Williams wanted these continuity in order to maximize the full potential of the car. The star of the team however was Rosberg who according to Frank Williams that Rosberg was capable of pushing the car to the limit and found few hundredths of a second every lap. Rosberg starred all season long and was responsible for all the points scored through the season with Nakajima failing to impress. There were also several occasions when Rosberg was accused of not utilizing the advantage he had and that he could have finished a lot higher in many races. Williams at the end of the season finished just one position higher then the previous year. And 7th was not where the Team was targeting at. All through the season there were reports that Toyota would leave F1 which put Williams in further spot of bother. But ahead of the penultimate race, Williams announced that they will nevertheless seek an independent supplier for the 2010 season.

Return to Cosworth

2010 season saw Williams returning to Cosworth and basically using the updated engine of what they had in 2006. FW32 was designed by Ed Wood and their Chief Aerodynamicist Jon Tomlinson under the guidance of the technical director Sam Michael. Returning to an independent supplier was largely expected considering the rumors that Toyota were handling Williams as their B-Team. With Rosberg leaving Williams and Nakajima not impressing any, Williams had gone with a brand new driver line up. Rubens Barrichello and the team’s test driver for 2009 Nico Hulkenberg who was also then reigning world GP2 champion were the team’s main drivers with Valtteri Bottas replacing Hulkenberg as the Team’s test driver. FW32 was largely inconsistent in the early part of the season with only occasional points, However towards the second half of that season, Their fortunes vastly improved and Hulkenberg recorded the Team’s first pole position in 5 years in a mixed conditions at Brazil. Barrichello as expected steered his way and was responsible for the 6th position in the constructors championship where Williams finished in that year. Hulkenberg showed raw pace but was very inconsistent in what was his first year in Formula 1.

It was proving to be a desperate affair for Williams now with the Team again managed to finish only 6th. 2011 was an important year for Williams and FW33 was designed by the same people who were responsible for FW32. Hulkenberg was shown the door in favor of a young Venezuelan who also succeed Hulkenberg as the GP2 champion. Maldonado and Barrichello had shown lots hopes on the new car, But during the testing itself, The Team lost huge morale as the car was said to be way off the pace. Retirements from both the drivers in the first two races didn’t do them any good but it took Round 6 for the team to score their first points of the season. Barrichello was responsible for the consecutive 9th place finishes which were the best result for the Team throughout the season. Maldonado who was unlucky in earlier races where he either spun off or collided with someone finished in points at Round 12 Belgian GP where he finished 10th. That was all Williams could do throughout the entire season.

Renault, The Saviors?

Cosworth was terminated of their contract and Williams decided to switch to Renault as both parties enjoyed their successful relationship during their last stint together. Williams are seeking better fortunes with Renault Engines as despite not being the fastest engine, It offers the team lots of benefits especially in slow corners when the traction from Renault Engine is much more significant. Also the rear of the car can be aerodynamically reconfigured which was not freely possible with Cosworth as it had its own limitations. Also it was noted by Mark Gillan who is currently chief operations engineer for Williams that Renault offers more flexibility in its range and this is something that the Williams needed. The other big change was the signing of Mike Coughlan who takes over as the Technical director of Williams from Sam Michael. Patrick Head, one of the founders of the team who has engineered several cars of the team in the past moved to Williams Hybrid Power thus taking his focus completely away from the main team. Bruno Senna replaced Rubens Barrichello in a very late move and that was largely expected as well. Bottas continued to be named as the test driver.

Round 5, Barcelona was an important race in Williams Team just because its been close to 8 years since a Williams car successfully dominated from Pole and Maldonado did win the race bringing home some useful points, but unfortunately for the team there was a fire accident right after the race got over and the Williams garage especially Senna’s chassis was completely destroyed.

The potential of FW34 was seen from the first race itself where Maldonado crashed out but was chasing Alonso for 5th place, Although the pace was highly there, Williams were not consistent enough. Well we can say the drivers weren’t consistent enough. {If you talk of how many crashes Maldonado is involved in, Take a look at our exclusive article for the same}. Nevertheless the development continued in as the Team now enjoys a bigger and better budget and are still showing flashes of brilliance by constantly troubling few teams. Consistency is largely an issue and Senna can be called a driver who has underperformed all through the season.

This season bears striking similarities with the 1990 season where once again, Williams had a successful car with an amazing engine. But the drivers were indirectly pointed out to their team’s poor showing at the constructors championship and what followed that season was as they say, it’s history.

Williams desperately tried to seek some continuity in most of their Engine deals, Renault will remain as their all time favorite as even after Renault left the sport, They signed up the deal with some customer Renault Engines and in the end it wasn’t a pleasant experience for them as they were technically using an old engine and tried to fight the competition at the time when engine played a crucial factor in the outcome of the season. The deal with BMW and Williams was the other such alliance which could have had more fruitful results had BMW been a lot more reliable when the Williams had a good stable car. Ultimately when BMW got the best engine, Williams couldn’t produce a better car and unable to meet their own expectations, BMW decided to take over Sauber. If we analyze further at some of the decisions that were made by the team regarding the suppliers, One has to wonder why Cosworth were picked again and again, but there were lots of reasons for the same like the budget restrictions that the team were facing at both 2006 and in 2010. Although The amount of motivation both the parties have while getting into the agreement gradually disappears and both the parties realize that the partnership cannot be extended further. But by the time they come to that decision it becomes too late and the reputation of both Williams and Cosworth becomes questionable. We are not in a position to judge the exact relationship between Toyota and Williams but we can say that at the time of signing the agreement both the parties decided to take one another as the benchmark and they started the partnership with mutual respect but by the time Williams were heading for a slump, We can understand that Toyota decided to gain the upperhand and forced the team to make follow its orders while many of them were largely visible from the outside and the outcome of those decisions have surely hurted the Grove based team.

There are high possibilities that we might see the team strike back to the top with the budget they have and with the technical team that is now involved in. A lot of them would be highly possible only if the drivers lift their game and have to push to the limits of the car and for sure Senna has lots of potential but he needs to deliver those results that are expected of him and Maldonado has been labeled as the one race wonder and have actually been involved in lots of hits and misses, For a young drivers as him, Maldonado has to make sure he is consistent enough to help the team finish a lot higher then where they are right now. It depends on these drivers as the car as many have pointed is one of the best in the season. Mike Coughlan fresh from the spygate controversy has surely delivered what he is capable of and has made a perfect comeback into Formula 1. Not too often we see a similar pattern in Formula 1 but this is just our opinion and we would be glad to see this team fight at the top and like we said, Not all Teams have rich heritage nor history behind them and we hope all those parties involved with Williams will fight the Team’s honor.

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